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Grizzly
Grizzly (also known as Killer Grizzly) is a 1976 horror film directed by William Girdler, about an 18-foot man-eating Grizzly bear that terrorizes a National Forest. It stars Christopher George, Andrew Prine and Richard Jaeckel. Widely considered a Jaws rip-off, Grizzly used many of the same plot devices as its shark predecessor, a huge box office success during the previous year 1975. In 1983, a sequel Grizzly II: The Predator was shot, but never released. The abortive project provided early roles for both Charlie Sheen and George Clooney. The giant grizzly bear in the film was portrayed by the mother of Bart the Bear. Plot The film opens with a military veteran helicopter pilot and guide Don Stober flying individuals above the trees of a vast National Park. He states that the woods are untouched and remain much as they did during the time when the Native Americans lived there. Two female hikers are breaking camp when one of them is attacked and killed by a bear. The second girl finds apparent safety within a nearby cabin until the bear tears down a wall to reach her. The National Park's Chief Ranger Michael Kelly and photographer Allison Corwin, daughter of the park's restaurant owner, decide to follow a Ranger to the primitive campsite to find the two female hikers. They discover the girl's mangled body inside the destroyed cabin. Allison stumbles across the remains of the first girl while photographing the search. At the hospital, a doctor tells Kelly that the girls were killed by a bear. The Park Supervisor Charley Kittridge blames Kelly, saying the bears were supposed to have been moved from the park by him and Naturalist Arthur Scott before the tourist season began. Kelly and Kittridge argue over closing the park, and decide to move all hikers off the park's mountain while allowing campers to remain in the lowlands. Kelly calls Scott, who says all bears are accounted for and this specific bear must be unknown to the forest. Stopping for a break near a waterfall while searching the mountain, a female Ranger complains to her male partner that her feet are sore and she is going to go soak them in the stream. Her male partner goes on to search R4 while she approaches the waterfall to soak. She does not see the bear waiting for her under the falls and she is attacked and killed. Kelly recruits the helicopter pilot Stober to assist in the search. Flying above the forest, they see what they believe to be an animal, only to discover the Naturalist Scott adorned in an animal skin while tracking the bear. He informs them the animal they are looking for is a prehistoric grizzly bear (a fictional pleistocene Arctodus ursos horribilis) standing at least 15 feet tall. Kelly and Stober scoff at the notion. At the busy lowland campground, the grizzly tears down a tent and kills a woman. Kelly once again insists on closing the park, but Kittridge refuses. The attacks are becoming a national news story and to counteract this, Kittridge allows amateur hunters into the forest. Kelly, Stober and Scott, now a team, are disgusted by this development. Later, a lone hunter is chased by the bear but he evades the animal on foot, falling into a river and floating to safety. Later that night three hunters find a bear cub, that they believe is the cub of the killer grizzly, so they use it as bait for the mother. But the grizzly finds and eats the cub without the hunters noticing. Scott concludes that the bear must be a male. A Ranger at a fire lookout tower on the mountain is attacked by the grizzly, the animal tearing down the structure and killing the Ranger. Kelly and Kittridge continue to argue over closing the park. Frustrated by the politics of the situation, Scott sneaks away to track the grizzly on his own. On the outskirts of the National Park, a mother and child living in a cabin are attacked by the grizzly. The mother is killed and the child survives, but is severely mutilated. Stunned by this development, Kittridge finally allows Kelly to close the park and ban all hunters. Stober and Kelly now go after the elusive grizzly alone, setting up a trap by hanging a deer carcass from a tree. The grizzly goes for the bait and the men chase the animal through the woods. When they return, they discover the grizzly has tricked them and taken the deer carcass. Tracking on horseback, Scott finds the remains of the carcass and calls Stober and Kelly on the radio. He is going to drag the deer behind his horse and create a trap by leading the grizzly towards them. The grizzly surprises Scott, killing his horse and knocking him unconscious. Scott awakens to find himself alive, but half-buried in the ground. The grizzly immediately returns and kills him. Kelly and Stober discover Scott's body and in despair, decide to return to the helicopter to find the grizzly from the air. They immediately spot the bear in a clearing and quickly land. The grizzly attacks the helicopter, swiping the craft causing Stober to be thrown clear. The grizzly kills Stober and then turns on Kelly, who frantically pulls a bazooka from the helicopter. Before the bear can reach him, Kelly fires the bazooka at the grizzly, killing the animal instantly. For several seconds, Kelly sadly stares at the burning remains of the grizzly and then walks towards Stober's body. Inspiration The idea for Grizzly began when the film's producer and writer Harvey Flaxman encountered a bear during a family camping trip. Co-producer and co-writer David Sheldon thought the idea would make a good film following the success of Jaws. William Girdler discovered the script on Sheldon's desk and offered to find financing as long as he could direct the film. Within a week, Girdler was able to obtain $750,000 in financing from Edward L. Montoro's Film Ventures International movie distribution company. Sequel The so-called sequel Grizzly II: The Concert was a nickname for an original film entitled "Predator: The Concert" filmed in 1985 in Hungary but never released to theaters. David Sheldon, the co-producer and writer of Grizzly wrote the screenplay with his screenwriter wife Joan McCall, also reprising her role from the original film. The cast included Charlie Sheen, George Clooney and Laura Dern, who were discovered by them and were unknown at the time, despite all being from families of popular stars. The main scenes for Grizzly II: The Predator were completed, but before the special effects with a huge electronic-mechanical bear could be used, the executive producer Joseph Proctor disappeared with the funds. The filmed footage of the live bear, however, attacking a live rock concert was also shot in Hungary. There have been attempts to re-cut and film more scenes, but to date, the film has never been released. Category:Films Category:Films and other media Category:1970s Category:Live-Action films